Of the various kinds of plants and plant materials which have been employed in medicine over the centuries, comparatively few remain in use today in limited quarters of the world. In the field of the oriental medicine, one of the few kinds of therapeutic plant materials which still occupy an important place in the modern materia medica is the moxa which is used as a celefactive counter-irritant in the moxibustion therapy or as an escharotic in the moxa cautery. The moxa to be employed in the moxibustion therapy or the moxa cautery is produced from leaves of a perennial herb of the genus Artemisia belonging to the family of sunflower or the Compositae, and consists of down, usually artificially bleached, separated from dried leaves of the herb. The most used of the Artemisia as the plant to produce moxa in the oriental moxibustion therapy or moxa cautery is the species known as Artemisia princeps which occurs as a natural weed or which is commercially cultivated in some limited parts of the world such as Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
For carrying out the moxibustion therapy or the moxa cautery in the simplest and perhaps most traditional fashion, a small quantity of moxa in a downy state is compacted between finger tips and is placed in a heap directly on the surface of a desired part of the subject's body skin. The heap of the moxa is then kindled at its top by the use of, for example, a thin stick of incense which is lit at one end thereof. The fire in the heap of the moxa slowly propagates toward the bottom of the heap and transfers heat to the subject's internal tissue through the skin underneath the moxa smoldering thereon. As the fire in the heap of the moxa approaches the subject's body skin, the subject will experience a sensation of heat on the skin under treatment. In the case of the moxibustion therapy, the smoldering remains of the moxa which is thus about to be burnt up on the surface of the subject's body skin are removed from the subject for thereby putting an end to one operation of the moxibustion treatment for the subject before the fire in the heap of the moxa reaches the surface of the skin. In practicing the moxa cautery, the heap of the moxa once kindled is maintained on the subject's body skin until the total quantity of the moxa applied to the skin is burnt up or the fire in the heap of the moxa reaches the surface of the skin. Thus, the moxa cautery not only destroys the tissue of the subject's body skin but also causes the subsequent formation of an eschar or scab which is ultimately replaced by a scar. Using an incense for setting fire to the moxa has no positive, technical or practical significance.
In order that the moxibustion or moxa-cautery treatment to be conducted for a subject suffering from any physical defect, lesion or ill health have a noticeable virtue as a therapeutic or remedial measure, it is of critical importance that the heap of the moxa or a quantity of moxa otherwise compacted into lump form be located correctly and accurately at a specific point or spot of the surface of the subject's body skin. Such a point or spot is well known as "tsubo" in the art of oriental medicine, particularly in the fields of the moxa cautery and the finger-pressure therapy as well as the moxibustion therapy to which the present invention appertains. While expert opinions are divided as to their exact number, there are empirically known tens to hundreds of tsubos distributed over various parts of human body. The exact location of the tsubo points or spots on persons to undergo the treatment vary subtly from one person to another and depending upon the natures of the efficacy to be obtained by the treatment or upon the natures or symptoms of the diseases or physical disorders to be cured. To enable unexperienced people to practice the therapy without aid of the directions or guidance of professional practitioners, there are published various tsubo charts or maps delineating the distribution of representative tsubo points or spots on human body. When the tsubo at which the moxibustion therapy or the moxa cautery is to be effected for a subject is properly selected and the heap of the moxa is accurately located at the particular point or spot, not only the treatment will produce its guaranteed remedial efficacy but substantially no unbearable sensation of heat is inflicted upon the subject under treatment even when the fire in the moxa is burning the skin.
There being no literary or established English translation of the original term "tsubo" in the Japanese language, the particular point or spot will be hereinafter referred to as remedial spot for convenience sake. Furthermore, the term "remedial" herein referred to in connection with the tsubo point or spot should be construed to be representative of any medically favorable effect which can be expected of or achieved by a physiotherapeutic treatment to be practiced for curative, palliative, analeptic, recuperative or prophylatic purposes. The above mentioned finger-pressure therapy is an oriental version of the chiropractic and resembles the chiropractic therapy in that both involve manipulation of human body by application of finger pressure to the subject's the internal tissues through the body skin for therapeutic purposes. The former is however distinguished from the latter in that the oriental-fashioned finger-pressure therapy extends to almost every part of the human body in contrast to the chiropractic therapy in which major adjustments are made on or in the region of the spinal column and, in some cases, in the neighborhood of the pelvis as well.
As one of the modified versions of the moxibustion therapy, there is known a loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy which uses a leaf of loquat in combination with moxa. Loquat, known also as a Japanese medler or Eriobotrya japonica, is a shrub of the family Malaceae and is a native of Japan and China, whence it has been taken to various subtropical climates throughout the world. In a traditional method of practicing the loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy, a green or unwithered and undried leaf of loquat is placed face down on the surface of the subject's body skin in such a manner that the loquat leaf covers a desired remedial spot of the body skin, whereupon a certain quantity of moxa is placed in heap form on the reverse or upper side of the leaf having its front face in contact with the surface of the subject's body skin. The heap of the moxa on the loquat leaf is thereafter kindled at its top so that, in a short while after the moxa is kindled, the heat produced by the smoldering moxa is transferred through the layer of the loquat leaf to the subject's body skin and stimulates the internal tissues below the skin. A calefactive counter-irritative stimulus is thus imparted to the subject's internal tissues underneath the skin around the remedial spot over which the moxa is smolding, producing a vital reaction in the internal tissues without causing a burn on the skin under treatment. The green loquat leaf intervening between the smoldering moxa and the subject's body skin is partially fumigated by the hot smoke emanating from the heap of the moxa so that the medicinal essence contained in the leaf is caused to transude from the front or lower surface of the leaf. The medicinal essence thus extravasated from the green loquat leaf acts on the dermal tissues and through the dermal tissues on the internal tissues of the subject. There are a number of reports and clinical data which have been published in corroboration of the therapeutic usefulness of the medicinal constituents of loquat leaves on the basis of the empirical evaluation of the time-tested efficacy of the loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy. The loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy is thus effective to have the intrinsic therapeutic virtue of moxa combined in effect with the medicinal properties of a green loquat leaf, thereby providing an enhanced therapeutic efficacy that could not be achieved by the ordinary moxibustion therapy using moxa alone. Since, furthermore, the heat from the moxa alight is transferred to the subject's body skin through the layer of the fresh loquat leaf, the subject under treatment is not subjected to a perceivable pain and feels only a slight sensation of warmth at the surface of the skin below the smoldering moxa. It will thus be understood that the loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy is distinguished from the moxa cautery which is a variant of the caustic therapeutics that cause local destruction of dermal and epidermal tissues by the heat generated at the surface of the subject's body skin.
To provide ease of storage and handling and to enable the operator of the therapy to accurately set the moxa at a desired remedial spot in practicing the moxibustion therapy using the moxa alone, it has been proposed and put into practice to have a quantity of moxa rolled and packed in paper into the form of an elongated, generally cylindrical stick which is similar in external appearance to a paper-rolled cigarette. When in use, the moxa stick having such a configuration is kindled at one end thereof and is applied sheer to the subject's body skin in such a manner that the lighted or business end of the stick is located at a desired remedial spot. If, in this instance, the moxa stick is forcefully pressed against the subject's body skin, not only the heat produced at the business end of the stick is transferred to the subject as in the ordinary moxibustion therapy but a physical pressure is imparted to the remedial spot at which the moxa stick is being pressed shear onto the skin as in the previously mentioned finger-pressure therapy. A moxa stick used in this fashion is thus capable of providing the curative effects of the finger-pressure therapy in addition to the effects which can be ordinarily achieved by the moxibustion therapy. The present invention contemplates combining the medicinal efficacy of an ordinary moxibustion therapy with not only the curative effects of the finger-pressure therapy but the therapeutic virtue which can be obtained by the leaves of loquat as medicinal agents.
It is, accordingly, an important object of the present invention to provide an improved loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy in which the moxa packed in the form of a stick or rod is utilized in combination with a green leaf of loquat and in which the moxa stick is applied under pressure to the subject's body across the layer of the loquat leaf placed on the surface of the body skin in such a manner as to cover a remedial spot under the leaf.
For the purpose that the loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy using a moxa stick displays satisfactory physiotherapeutic effects of the finger-pressure therapy, it is important that the pressure applied from the moxa stick to the subject's body under treatment be concentrated at a selected remedial spot of the subject as efficiently as possible. From this point of view, it is desired that a moxa stick for use in the loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy according to the present invention be as slender or small in diameter as possible so as to limit the area of the subject's body skin to be subjected to the pressure from the moxa stick which is forced against the subject's body by the operator of the therapy during treatment.
When a loquat leaf is placed on the surface of the body skin of a subject about to undergo a loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy and the loquat leaf is located to cover a desired remedial spot of the subject's body, the remedial spot is concealed from the view of the operator of the therapy with the result that the operator is not permitted to visually probe and determine the exact location of the remedial spot at which the moxa stick is to be pointed. From this point of view, it is advantageous that a moxa stick for use in the loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy according to the present invention be as stick or large in diameter as possible so as to be capable of covering as large an area of the subject's body skin as possible at its fiery business end.
When a moxa stick is in use, furthermore, the moxa stick is gradually exhausted in a tapered form away from the initially kindled end of the stick. As the moxa stick is exhausted and shortened, there are produced smoldering remains of moxa at the tapered fiery end of the stick. If the treatment using the moxa stick is continued on the subject with such smoldering remains of the moxa left attached to the stick, the tapered, exhausted tip portion of the moxa stick tends to break into crumbles and then into ashes. Such a tendency becomes pronounced as the moxa stick to be put to use is made slenderer and accordingly more apt to be tapered toward the end. The crumbles and ashes may cause the operator of the therapy to burn his finger or palm gripping the moxa stick or, down the moxa stick and the subject's body, may singe or burn the subject's or operator's clothes, the surface of the floor or carpet, or the bed-clothes, if any. To preclude these dangers, the moxa stick which has been exhausted and tapered to such an extent that the tapered fiery tip portion of the stick appears to be on the point of being crumbled may be once removed from the subject in the course of the treatment, so as to sever the fiery tip portion from the remaining portion of the moxa stick by the use of a knife or scissors before the tip portion is broken into crumbles. If this is done before the treatment is complete, the moxa stick to be put to continued use must be kindled at the cut end and applied for a second time to the subject for proceeding with the treatment. These procedures will not only create a problem that the therapeutic treatment must be interrupted for the removal of the exhausted tip portion from the moxa stick and the relighting of the stick to be put to further use but will result in a waste of moxa because of the fact that a considerable amount of raw moxa must be discarded together with the exhausted remains to be removed from the moxa stick. All these inconveniences could be alleviated if the moxa stick has a sufficiently robust construction which will make the moxa stick substantially free from the tendency of being exhausted in a tapered form when in use. From this point of view, it is also desired that a moxa stick to be utilized for practicing the loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy according to the present invention be as thick or large in diameter as possible. This requirement is apparently contrary to the previously described requirement that a moxa stick for use in the loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy according to the present invention should be as slender or small in diameter as possible. Thus, the present invention further contemplates provision of a moxa stick which will provide a reasonable compromise between the mutually conflicting requirements of a moxa stick to be used in the loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy provided by the present invention.
It is, accordingly, another important object of the present invention to provide a moxa stick which is sized to be optimum for achieving proper medicinal virtues of the conventional loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy and physiotherapeutic effects tantamount to the curative effects of the finger-pressure therapy.
It is still another important object of the present invention to provide a moxa stick which is thick or large in diameter enough to minimize the tapering and accordingly crumbling tendency of an exhausted tip portion of the stick and to enable the user of the moxa stick to easily and accurately apply the stick to a desired remedial spot below the loquat leaf placed on the subject's body skin and which is nevertheless slender or small in diameter enough to be capable of applying a concentrated pressure or thrust to the remedial spot when the moxa stick is pressed against the subject's body under treatment.
Yet, it is another important object of the present invention to provide an improved moxa stick which is so configured or preferably so configured and dimensioned in cross section as to preclude the moxa stick from forming a tapered tip portion when the moxa stick is being exhausted and shortened away from its end alight during prosecution of a loquat-leaf moxibustion therapy using the moxa stick.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing such an improved moxa stick on a commercial basis. A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus adapted to put the method into practice at a low cost.